“We haven’t lost any match by more than one score, and that includes two league finals and Westmeath in 2016.

“Most of those matches have been one-point games. Maybe if you are looking at it through a different lens you might ask why are we losing tight matches as opposed to why are we losing in Croke Park?”

O’Neill said the answer to that one is simple enough.

The former Kerry coach continued: “Concentration across a 70-minute period. But I do feel that Division 1 will help us to develop that a little bit more this year.

“Division 1 teams, by virtue of being there for many years, are ruthless by nature, they’ll punish every single sloppy mistake you make.

“It happened in the Leinster final against Dublin last year, we had a good defensive performance in the League campaign, only conceded three goals, but then in a few minutes of madness we conceded two very soft goals to Dublin.

“And I think that’s because the top teams can be ruthless when they need to be.

“But we’ll learn. It could be learning the hard way, it could just be progression, but we’ll definitely learn in Division 1 to be a more focused team across 70 minutes.”

Kildare supporters and neutrals are hoping the Lilies can be the side that finally reels in Dublin in Leinster.

But O’Neill cautioned: “The elephant in the room is always going to be Dublin, let’s be honest about it.